A Welcome Distraction

Mary Grace was still eating breakfast the following morning when Roger entered her room. "How's Dawn?" she asked after they kissed hello.

"Fine," Roger told her. "She fell asleep waiting for me to get home, but she woke up again when she heard me come inside. I explained the situation with Dusty to her, and she seemed to be OK with it."

"She's too little to understand," Mary Grace replied.

Later that morning, a nurse brought Dusty in his incubator into the room. "Would you like to feed him?" she asked Mary Grace.

"Oh, yes!" Mary Grace exclaimed. Roger helped her open her gown while the nurse gently lifted the infant from the incubator. She handed him to Mary Grace, who gently guided his mouth to her nipple. He latched on eagerly and began to suckle right away.

"Looks like he's hungry," Roger chuckled.

As she held her son and felt the movement of his tiny lips against her skin, Mary Grace felt peace flow over her for the first time since she'd given birth. Dusty suckled for only a few minutes, then fell asleep again.

"He sure didn't nurse for very long," Mary Grace remarked, remembering how Dawn had seemed constantly hungry in her first few weeks of life.

"It's an exertion for him, a strain on his heart," the nurse explained.

"Oh, no!" Mary Grace was alarmed.

The nurse smiled reassuringly. "It's all right. He does have to eat, after all. He knows when enough is enough. Little babies are smart that way."

Shortly afterwards, the data clerk arrived with the birth certificate. "His name is Dustin Reed Henderson," Mary Grace told her.

Ivan, Ginger, and Audrey had dinner together, and then Audrey went to her room to do her homework. Much later, Ivan and Ginger were watching TV together on the sofa. Ginger lay with her head in Ivan's lap while he rubbed her back soothingly. "You are worried about your friends."

"Of course I am!"

"I understand that. Audrey is worried as well."

"You know how close she and Mary Grace have always been."

"I know how to cheer you up." Ivan gathered Ginger into his arms and carried her into their bedroom. Softly he laid her on the bed, and she giggled as he began to place soft kisses on her neck. For such a large man, he could be incredibly gentle and loving.

"See, it is working already," he chuckled.

Eagerly she grasped his head between her hands, pressing her lips to his. Their tongues met and moved together as Ginger felt her passion intensify. Suddenly her clothing felt uncomfortably hot and tight.

As if he could read her mind, Ivan gently began to remove it, piece by piece. As he lifted her bra away, the cool air touching her nipples made them rigid, and she moaned softly as she ran her hands over them.

Ivan finished undressing her, then quickly removed his own clothing. As he stepped out of his underwear, she took his throbbing member into her mouth and began to gently suckle it as she massaged his balls. He began to moan, softly at first, then more urgently.

When she knew he was close, she lay back, and he climbed onto the bed beside her and resumed kissing her. From her neck he moved to her nipples, which were aching for his touch. She felt the delicate folds between her legs moisten and throb with desire, and as Ivan lightly ran his fingers over and between them, she gasped and nearly went over the edge. A moment later, she felt his hot breath on them, and when his tongue finally touched her there, her orgasm washed forcefully over her.

Ivan laughed softly, positioned himself over her, and entered her. After what seemed like mere seconds, he found his own release. "You are such a passionate woman, Ginger," he murmured contentedly. "How was I lucky enough to find a woman as passionate as you?"

As she drifted off to sleep later, it occurred to Ginger that now Roger and Mary Grace had two children together, just like Gordon and Celeste did. She wondered whether, if circumstances had been different, she and Ivan might have had a second, and perhaps even a third, child together as well. She knew that the past was finished and over with, and yet she still experienced bittersweet moments in which she wondered what might have been. She never spoke of this to Ivan, or even to Audrey. It was a secret she bore alone.

Two days after Dusty's birth, Mary Grace was released from the hospital.

"It'll be nice to sleep together in our own bed again," Roger said as he put a comforting arm around Mary Grace.

"This is the hardest thing I've ever done before in my life." Mary Grace was near tears. Roger understood how she felt. He felt the same way himself. He wished he knew of the words to say to comfort her, but they just wouldn't come.

A few minutes later they silently drove out of the hospital parking lot, leaving their tiny son behind.